


Let’s Start Over

by xBreeButterflyx



Category: Shadowhunters (TV), The Mortal Instruments Series - Cassandra Clare, The Shadowhunter Chronicles - Cassandra Clare
Genre: Alec Lightwood Deserves Nice Things, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Angst, Divorce, F/M, Falling In Love, Internalized Homophobia, Kidnapping, M/M, Magnus Bane Deserves Nice Things, Matchmaker Isabelle Lightwood, Parenthood, Second Chances, Single Parents
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-08-01
Updated: 2019-02-01
Packaged: 2019-06-20 01:00:59
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 7
Words: 13,576
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15522603
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/xBreeButterflyx/pseuds/xBreeButterflyx
Summary: What if Magnus had never crashed the wedding and Alec had went through with marrying Lydia? Six years and two kids later they inevitably divorce and Alec has to learn how to start over. Will that new beginning involve a certain glittery warlock?





	1. Prologue

**Author's Note:**

> If anything in the tags or the summary offends you DO NOT READ THIS. I am sick of people coming into my comments and bashing the story just because of the elements it contains. From this point forward if you do this I will delete your comments. Unless it is constructive criticism I don’t want to hear it. Don’t need that kind of negativity in my life.

“I want a divorce.”

Such a simple sentence, yet it caused him to instantly stop in his tracks. With a hand cast in mid-air, he tried to make sense of what his wife had just said to him. He had been in a haste to complete his paperwork for the night, and had tried to usher her out of his office with a quick kiss and a promise of his return home within the hour. But he should’ve known better. When Lydia Lightwood wanted to say something she was going to say it. Nothing would stop her. Not even her workaholic husband.

Alec would never admit to it, but he actually sputtered. “I’m sorry, what?” He asked, mind still failing at catching up with their conversation.

Lydia stared back at him, eyes ablaze with force and defiance. “I said, I want a divorce,” she repeated.

His mouth just opened and closed like a fish. He didn’t understand where this was even coming from. Everything was perfectly fine. Why was she saying these things?

“ _Why_?”

She sighed as she moved past him in the doorway and took a seat in the chair in front of his desk. She crossed her legs and folded her hands across her lap. His feet were still frozen to the ground.

“Alec. I think we both know why,” she breathed out slowly, trepidation finally seeping into her voice.

The hunter’s heart literally stopped. The inhale he had begun to take stuck in his throat so hard that he felt like he was about to suffocate. This could not be happening. No way. How was this even possible? Why now?

As much as he didn’t want to, he had to voice his thoughts. Even to this day he could barely stand admitting that part of himself to people. But Lydia had never, not once, judged him for it. She would simply listen, understanding and kindness etched across her face every single time. But even with her, he was still reluctant.

After this, maybe he was right to have been.

Alec scratched at the back of his head for a moment, before he finally found the courage to respond. “But why? This was never an issue before. We’ve been married for almost six years, Lydia. Now suddenly there’s a problem?”

Lydia’s eyes fluttered closed for a few moments, bracing herself for the following words she was about to voice. The ones that would inevitably set everything in stone. “We were both very young when we got married. I thought I could be content with a loveless marriage as long as I still had my career. I was naive. I should have known there would come a day that I would want to experience love again. But the wounds after John were still so fresh, and I was too scared to even imagine trying to find what I had with him ever again. But now I want it. And I know you do too.”

Alec scoffed. “Lydia, you know exactly why that will never be a possibility for me.”

What exactly was it that she was insinuating? That he try to find love with another man? The mere idea of it was absolutely absurd. He could lose his position as Head of the Seattle Institute. He could be stripped of his runes. He could be banished from the shadow world. Or the worst possibility of all, he could lose his kids. That would kill him for sure. In a way that no deruning ever could.

But Lydia was relentless. “Why not? You never know until you try,” she replied, not unkindly. She still knew how delicate his feelings regarding his sexual identity were. She’d become well accustomed to it over the years.

“I just can’t, okay? And what about Elise and Rylan? Are you just gonna take them away from me?” He asked.

The very thought of losing his children made Alec want to vomit. They were his whole world. He couldn’t survive without them by his side. He’d die. He was sure of it.

But Lydia continued to surprise him. “You can have full custody. I still demand bi weekly visitation though. With all of the traveling I do for The Clave, it would be better for them to stay here with you. They are still so young, and they need stability, which is something they won’t get if they stay with me,” she sighed. The pain and hesitation in her tone was evident, but as always she wasn’t thinking of herself. Only their children. Those two were top priority. For the both of them.

She wasn’t wrong, Alec realized. As much as he wanted to keep them by his side he knew that it was also the best thing for them mentally. He was still left pretty speechless. His mouth and his brain had disconnected entirely. He had so much he wanted to tell her, ask her, but he couldn’t bring himself to.

In the end, there was only one thing he was able to say.

“I’m sorry.”


	2. Home Is Where The Heart Is

Alec had no idea that it would be this hard.

After the divorce, gaining custody of the children, and being left to care for them all on his own, he realized just how difficult it could be. He was so used to Lydia being around that he didn’t realize how helpless he could really feel after she left. There was a lot of little bitty things that he never paid much attention to that he was now fully responsible for, and he regretted it immensely.

Like now, standing behind the kitchen chair he’d pulled into the bathroom and trying to figure out how the hell he was supposed to do this.

“Daddy, you’re hurting me!”

He winced as he heard the loud ripping sound echo through the tile walls, instantly stopping the downward motion of his hand. His heart was thumping like a set of drums within his chest, and his fingers trembled from where they were wrapped around the torture device that women call a hairbrush. His anxiety had skyrocketed at that point, and they’d only been at this for the past five minutes.

Alec ran a soothing hand through his daughter’s hair. “I’m sorry,” he murmured.

Pained tears were running down Elise’s cheeks, and she was gripping onto the arms of the chair for dear life. He hated that he didn’t know how to make this any easier. Seeing her cry had always broken his heart. Even when she was just a baby.

“I wish mommy was here!” She sobbed. She clutched her stuffed monkey to her chest and curled in on herself. That monkey had been hers since she was born, and you could certainly tell it. One of his eyes were missing, he had small, patched up holes all over his body, and he no longer had a tail. But no amount of reasoning and counter offers Alec and Lydia had attempted to make convinced Elise to let him go. So five years and three moves later, he was still here. And it didn’t seem like he’d be leaving anytime soon.

But even Alec Self-Sacrificing Lightwood could tell when he needed help. So he took a deep breath and punched in the numbers he’d basically memorized by now. Raziel only knows how many times he’d dialed it within the past week.

She picked up on the fifth ring with an impatient sigh. “What is it now, Alec?”

He decided to ignore the annoyance radiating through Lydia’s end of the line and just went straight to the punch. “Elise’s hair. How did you always brush it so easily?”

Lydia groaned. He didn’t even need to see his ex-wife to know that she was pinching the bridge of her nose. “The detangling spray, Alec. You have to use the detangling spray.”

“The what?”

“ _The detangling spray_ ,” she snapped. “It’s on Elise’s vanity table. Thin green bottle. Spray it all over her hair and let it sit for a few minutes. Then try again. Now if that’s all I really need to get back to my meeting.”

Then the line went dead.

Okay. He could do this. With a quick press of lips to his daughter’s forehead he left the room and went to find the spray. He located the bottle the second he stepped into Elise’s room. It was exactly where Lydia had said it was. He followed her instructions to the t, and within minutes he found the slide of the brush through Elise’s curly black locks to be far smoother than before. At least now there were no more tears.

“I want a braid today,” Elise announced. She reached over to the bathroom counter and plucked a small rubber band out of the basket in the corner.

Fifteen minutes, two more waves of tears, and a missing rubber band later, Elise left the house wearing a ponytail.

~~~

Isabelle cackled loudly at his side as they watched Rylan throw his spoon at a mundane lady a few tables away from where they sat in the parlor, hitting her in the back of the head with a splash of strawberry swirl ice cream. Alec couldn’t do anything but slam his head into the table.

“You seem to be handling things well,” she huffed, running her long, manicured fingers through his messy bed hair in what was supposed to be comfort. It did nothing to help ease his nerves. Not this time.

“How can a one year old throw a spoon that far? How, Izzy? _How_?” Alec muttered into the table.

Isabelle slid her palm between his forehead and the tabletop and lifted his head up to face her. “Alec, you can do this. Whatever you need, I’m here,” she said, affection and concern lacing her every word.

Somehow, he still felt just as lost as he did before. But he wouldn’t tell her that.

“Daddy he’s eating with his hands again,” Elise sighed.

And sure enough, there was Rylan, sitting in his high chair and shoving handfuls of ice cream into his mouth without a care in the world. He giggled at the exasperated look Alec aimed in his direction. But his big blue eyes looked so happy and carefree that Alec couldn’t bring himself to be mad at the toddler.

Isabelle went to fetch a handful of napkins from the front counter while he just sat there and reflected on the week he’d had since the divorce.

To put it simply, Alec was stressed. Being a single parent was _hard_. Especially when he had such an important position in the institute to balance along with it. He was beyond sleep deprived at this point, his nerves were always shot, and the house was so messy that they basically had to swim through the laundry room. Alec knew he was failing. Failing his fellow shadowhunters, his ex wife, but most of all, he was failing his kids. He felt like such a disappointment.

When Isabelle returned from the front counter, he’d already made up his mind.

“I’m stepping down from my position at the Seattle Institute and moving back to New York.”

Her eyes practically bulged out of her head. “Are you serious?”

He nodded.

There was no way he could keep on going like this. Working the days away, staying up all night with Rylan as he screamed from the pain of his teething, and trying to get Elise to her tutor and him to work on time. Alec knew something had to give. And the only logical solution was to step down from his position and return to New York, where his family would be there to help him through this mess.

“I need help, Izzy. And there’s nobody here that I trust. I want to go home now,” he whispered.

He felt ashamed. That he had to have his family help him take care of his children. He was their father. He should be able to handle it. But, alas, Alec knew he was a failure at navigating parenthood all on his own. Since Lydia left his life had only been going in a downward spiral, and things were going to inevitably crash if he didn’t get a grip on it soon.

So he would return to New York. And face the past he’d been running from for over half a decade. It was time.

~~~

It was a bit of a culture shock to Elise when they finally settled into their two bedroom flat in Manhattan. She was so used to the rainy weather and the calm atmosphere that the cold air and bustling crowds of people in New York caused her raging levels of anxiety at various intervals of time. It was usually when they were walking through the streets. So Alec avoided going out as much as he could. At least until she settled.

He knew his Lightwood wealth would only take him so far, so he internally agreed to grant himself only two weeks before he would return to the New York Institute and obtain a new position. It was doubtful that he would be able to reacquire his title as head, but hopefully The Clave would recognize his outstanding achievements from over the years and at least give him a higher up position than the run of the mill shadowhunter.

But for now he would be content with sitting at home with his children all day long and watching mundane cartoons while eating take out. As much as he had dreaded being home bound and unemployed, he actually enjoyed the following weeks. They made him realize that he hadn’t spent near as much time with Elise and Rylan as he should have, and he resolved himself to dedicating more of his time to his kids and less of his time to his job. They would only be little for so long, he realized.

When he returned to the New York Institute, everyone had been quite shocked. He was constantly being thrown sympathetic, borderline pitying, glances by the other shadowhunters occupying the building. Probably because of the divorce, he concluded. Little did they know that his marriage had been nothing more than a political arrangement with feelings that never went beyond mutual friendship and respect.

But things were finally starting to look up. As it turns out, Clary of all people had been appointed as Head of the New York Institute after he’d been transferred. So when he returned, she graciously stepped down and appointed him to be her successor. He was starting to gain a newfound respect and admiration for the tiny redhead that had stolen the heart of his parabatai.

It was like deja vu, sitting here at his desk and mulling over the mountain of paperwork about New York demon attacks and vampire dens that had accumulated throughout the day. Deep down, some tiny part of him had always considered this to be his calling. In a way that no position in Seattle or Las Vegas or Huston that he’d held ever could. New York was, and always would be, Alec’s one and only home.

A loud rap at his door startled him out of his wistful pondering.

“Come in,” he called, not even bothering to glance up from his desktop when the door swung open.

But when someone cleared their throat expectantly, he was stunned to see Jace standing there. He was supposed to be in Alicante for the rest of the month, handling some sort of top secret Clave investigation that his grandmother had put him in charge of. But here he was, standing here in front of his desk, shuffling awkwardly from where he was leaning against the doorframe.

“Jace. I didn’t expect you so soon,” Alec smiled. How could he not, after finally seeing his parabatai after almost four months of silence from his end due to his classified assignment.

But Jace didn’t look to be very happy to see him. His expression was filled with concern and trepidation. Which was odd. Jace had never been one to be cautious.

“Jace, what’s wrong?”

But he was met with only silence. His brother opened and closed his mouth a few times, seemingly speechless and trying to find the right words to say. Another first. Something was up. And Alec had a bad feeling about it.

As always, his gut was spot-on.

“Magnus Bane is here to reinforce the wards,” Jace said.

Alec’s heart stuttered against his chest. Pain, excitement, and hesitation all intertwining to form the perfect storm within his body. This was going to be...interesting.

And what an understatement that would prove to be.


	3. First Encounters

When Magnus heard the news that freshly-divorced Alexander Lightwood had returned to New York, he didn’t know what to think. It seemed like just yesterday he was standing there, breathing his magic against the hunter’s neck, and telling him that he had one final chance to make his decision.

But it hadn’t been yesterday. Maybe to warlocks it would seem like so. But to mortals, six years was practically a lifetime. Alec would no longer be the same frightened, self-conscious boy he’d met all those years ago. According to his calculations, Alec was nearly thirty by now, making him a grown ass man.

Hopefully he’d changed for the better. Accepted himself and decided to live his life the way he wished to. Maybe that was why Alec and Lydia had split.

But it did no good to ponder over it. Alec had made his choice. And there was no way in hell that Magnus would open his heart up to him so easily again. All it had resulted in the last time was disappointment and heartache. He would not repeat his past mistakes.

So of course, when Isabelle Lightwood had emailed him requesting a reinforcement of the institute’s wards, he was reluctant. Magnus wasn’t stupid. He knew that the timing of the request could be no coincidence. Alec had returned to New York a mere few weeks ago. Now suddenly Isabelle wanted him to check up on the wards? She wasn’t exactly subtle.

Regardless, he went anyways. If somebody asked him, he wouldn’t be able to explain why he did. But deep down, a part of him still longed for the Lightwood man. Even though he would never admit it to a single living soul. He’d sooner eat dirt.

“Magnus!” Isabelle greeted as he walked into the ops center.

She looked as beautiful as ever. Even though they had kept in touch throughout the years, they hadn’t met up face to face in nearly four. Their lives were so busy and hectic that they just never could schedule a time that would work for them both. So they’d resigned themselves to the occasional phone call and weekly texts.

He silently eyed the princess cut diamond ring on her finger with a raised eyebrow.

“So Simon finally grew a pair, huh?” He grinned, gesturing down towards her left hand.

She glanced at the ring and held her hand out for him to inspect, it was indeed very beautiful. It suited the Lightwood woman well. She quietly admired her ring alongside him, gazing down in a childish wonder. Like she had just seen it for the very first time. The love in her eyes was nearly blinding.

“Yes, he proposed just last week. We’re going to be wed in the summer,” she announced, excitement seeping out of her every pore. “Oh! You’re invited, of course,” she added, almost as an afterthought.

Magnus grinned. “I wouldn’t miss it for the world, daring.”

She returned the smile and leaned against the desk as they caught up. He didn’t realize it before, but somewhere deep down, he’d missed Isabelle dearly. Suddenly, the reasons he’d had for not meeting up with her sooner seemed worthless. They would definitely have that coffee date soon.

But soon they had to get down to business. Isabelle led him around the building from room to room, waiting patiently as he reviewed the wards and touched up on them when needed. Eventually, they’d reached the final room in need of review. The training room.

Much to his shock, and delight, he heard the chorus to Avril Lavigne’s “Girlfriend” blaring from inside. He turned back to face Isabelle and raised a single eyebrow. She simply shrugged a shoulder and gestured for him to open the door. But her eyes betrayed her. He could clearly tell that she knew more than she was letting on, that there was something she was keeping from him.

He entered the room anyways. The room was as clean and meticulous as always. He found the source of the music perched up on one of the workout benches. It was a purple Bluetooth speaker with a small iPod sitting next to it.

The room held only one occupant. It was a little girl, certainly no older than seven. She had her pitch black hair tied tight into a messy bun atop her head. Her bright blue eyes were narrowed in on the targets across the room in concentration. She held a bow in her grasp, a single arrow notched in the string.

He watched, fascinated, as she let the arrow fly and it hit the ring nearest to the bullseye. It was quite an impressive feat for someone so young. But the look on her face said otherwise. She seemed frustrated, her hands clenched so tight around the bow that her knuckles were turning white. The girl dropped the bow and ran off to fetch the arrow from the target board.

Isabelle was smiling at his side, something similar to pride shining in her eyes. How she knew this girl seemingly so closely, he had no idea. But there had to be some sort of relation there because that wasn’t the look you give someone that wasn’t family.

“Elise,” she greeted, a grin spreading across her cheeks as the little girl sprung up from the ground and launched herself at Isabelle’s leg.

“Aunty Izzy!” She shrieked in delight, bouncing up and down on the balls of her feet.

Aunty?

His mind began to rack through all of the different possibilities. Max was too young to have a daughter this old. That left it down to Jace and Alec. And judging from how much this girl favored Isabelle, he knew he had his answer.

Realization dawned across his face. “Alec had a child,” he breathed, staring down at the girl Isabelle had called Elise in surprise.

Isabelle frowned at him, eyes filled with guilt. “Two, actually,” she admitted as she ruffled Elise’s hair.

His frown only deepened.

“I’m sorry I didn’t tell you. I just...it wasn’t really my truth to tell,” she sighed.

Elise pulled off of her aunt and made adorable little grabby hands up at her. Isabelle immediately complied, picking up her niece and tossing her into the air before settling her down on her hip.

The girl eyed him curiously. But the first thing she said to him was far from anything he had predicted.

“Do you know how to make a braid?”

Magnus laughed. How random, he thought quietly. Isabelle only rolled her eyes at her niece’s antics. “Elise, I already told you that I can make you a braid. You just refuse to let me do it.”

Elise frowned and shook her head viciously. “Because you can’t do it like mommy does. Yours is just weird,” she huffed, turning her attention back to Magnus once again.

“So, can you? My mommy is out taking work trips and my daddy is totally useless when it comes to this stuff,” she explained.

He nodded his head slowly, amusement filling up heavily inside his chest. This was the most endearing thing he’d seen in months. This little girl was so curious and painfully blunt. Much like his Alexand-

No. Not _his_ Alexander. Never was and probably never will be.

But he pushed those thoughts aside to conjure up a stool at his side. Elise dropped down out of Isabelle’s hold and climbed up on the chair. She couldn’t contain her excitement as Magnus pulled the rubber band out of her hair and released her gorgeous curls from atop her head. He summoned a brush and immediately set to work.

In three minutes flat, Elise’s hair was pulled back into a perfect braid. He snapped his fingers and a mirror appeared in her hands. She giggled and swatted at the tiny, dancing sparks floating away. When she held the mirror up to inspect his work, she gasped.

“This is _even better than_ mommy’s!” She grinned.

Magnus welled up with pride. To see he hadn’t lost his touch was quite the relief. “Well, you don’t live for over four centuries and not learn a thing or two about hair,” he replied.

Her head snapped back up to him, braid nearly whipped him in the mouth. “You’re _four hundred_ years old?” She exclaimed, mouth dropped open in a wide “O”.

Before he had the chance to reply, the door to the training room swung open. His limbs froze.

There, stood in the doorway, less than twenty feet away from him, was Alexander Lightwood in the flesh. He choked on a gasp as the man approached him, face masked into a blank slate. That was...concerning, to say the least. Maybe he had been wrong to assume that Alec had outgrown all of his boyish tendencies. Because now, he stared at him as if he was a total stranger. But Magnus knew better. Behind that mask, swimming around in his cerulean blue eyes, was a wide range of emotions. Fear, longing, and an immense amount of pain.

It hurt to bare witness to.

“Daddy!” Elise cried as she flung herself out of the stool and barreled into his leg.

The mask was wiped off his face so quickly it made Magnus wonder if t ever even been there at all. In its place was an expression of painstakingly genuine love and affection. He picked up the little girl and gave her a tight hug, burying his face into her shoulder with a sigh. Elise grunted.

“Too tight,” she complained.

Instantly the hold loosened, and Elise hugged her father right back. The silence went on for what seemed like ages as the pair embraced. But soon, Alec pulled her back away from him and kissed her nose. She giggled and swatted at his face.

“How’s the training going, princess?” He asked, nodding his head towards the abandoned bow and quiver of arrows resting in front of the target.

Elise purses her lips. “Terrible. I still can’t hit the red one,” she sighed, burying her nose in Alec’s neck as she did so.

“It takes practice, Elise.”

She muttered something about unintelligible under her breath and slid down from his hold. Alec turned to face him only once Elise ran back over to resume her training. The mask was back, harder than ever.

“Warlock Bane,” he greeted, nodding once in acknowledgement.

Magnus had no idea how to respond. So he simply stood there, staring at Isabelle in what he hoped conveyed desperation. He needed a way out. A century could pass and he still wouldn’t be prepared to have this conversation. But Alec, unfortunately, did not have a century. So when Isabelle shook her head ruefully, he resigned himself to his fate and met the expectant gaze of his former love.

Because even though he had been so adamant to deny it before, what he’d felt (and still felt, if he was being totally honest) for Alec was nothing short of love. Things had spiraled away so quickly between the two of them. But standing here, staring at the breathtaking shadowhunter before him, he realized that he’d been lying to himself all these years. He was in love with Alexander Lightwood. A shadowhunter. A puppet for The Clave. And there wasn’t a damn thing in their world that could change that fact.

“Please, follow me to my office,” he requested.

Then he was gone almost as soon as he’d came. But as always, Magnus had no common sense or self-preservation whatsoever. So he ended up blindly following the hunter down the winding halls and eventually through the door of Alec’s previously locked office.

Out of all the things he’d been expecting from his first encounter with Alec after so long, what happened next was on the very end of things he expected to happen

Alec grabbed him roughly by the shirt collar and yanked his lips into his own, kissing the warlock slow and heart-wrenchingly sweet.


	4. Virtually Strangers

Alec's head was spinning as he felt Magnus' lips pressed against his own. The warlock kissed him back but no sooner than he had Alec was being pushed back away from him. It all happened so quick that Alec had to wonder if he'd simply imagined Magnus responding to him.   
  
Shame and embarassment crashed through the hunter like a tidal wave. What on earth had he even been thinking? Oh, right. He hadn't been thinking at all. He'd just seen Magnus standing there, helping his daughter with her hair so domestically, and his mind had been plundged directly back into his feelings for the other man. The ones that had never even dwindled for a millisecond over the years. Despite their time spent so far apart. It had been game over for him from there.  
  
"Alec," Magnus breathed. And he'd never known that someone simply voicing his name could cause his heart to plummet so deep down inside himself. 'Alec'. Magnus had never really called him that. He'd been so accustomed to hearing 'Alexander' fall from those beautifully colored lips that anything else sounded far too cold and distant. Like they were virtually strangers. And maybe they were. They'd been seperated for so long that Magnus could have totally changed. Alec knew that he at least had. Maybe not completely but it was fairly drastic nonethless.   
  
Magnus continued. "Don't you think this is a little...I don't know...unproffesional?"  
  
Alec's throat constricted. So they were strangers. Seemingly to Magnus, nothing had ever even occured between them. No emotions. No strings attatched. Nothing. All hope he'd felt since Jace had announced Magnus' arrival vanished without so much as a trace left.   
  
The hunter schooled his expression into something akin to indifference. "My sincerest apologies, Mr. Bane. I was out of line."  
  
Magnus seemed a bit taken aback. "Apology accepted, Alec. You can call me Magnus, you know," he assured as he carelessly tucked a stray piece of his hair behind his honey-skinned ear. The warlock seemed very off. All of the confidence that had practically radiated off of him just minutes before was gone. Magnus was slightly slouching against the door and for the first time in his life Alec saw vulnerability and nervousness etched across Magnus' face.   
  
Alec knew it was petty, but the words slipped past his lips before he could put a stop to it. "No thank you, Mr. Bane. I would want to be " _unproffesional_ " now would I?"  
  
He bit his tongue instantly but it was too late. The words had already been spoken. He felt like he was barring witness to a train wreck as Magnus' face contorted into barely-contained rage. His clenched fists trembled at his side and Alec thought he saw the overhead light flicker for a moment.   
  
"What right do you think you have to be rude to _me_ , Shadowhunter?" Magnus seethed.   
  
Alec flinched. But, he didn't know any other way to release the hurt he felt other than through anger, so he snapped right back. "I don't know. Maybe the fact that you strut in here pretending that I'm nothing more than a stranger to you? That you feel absolutley nothing towards me! Who knows? Maybe you don't!"  
  
Magnus saw straight through his facade. He dug through the presented rage and unearthed the heartache that lied underneath. His expression softened and realization dawned over him.   
  
"Oh, Alec," the warlock whispered, reaching out and hesitantly stroking the hunter's cheek. Alec's skin heated underneath his touch. He suppposed some things never changed. "Of course I still care for you. But I'm not ready to put myself through all of that again. And niether are you."  
  
Alec opened his mouth to protest, but Magnus quieted him with a pointed look.  
  
"Alec, you've only been divorced for a month. You have two children, you're still-"  
  
"Is that what it is? You don't want to be with me because I have kids?" He sputtered, anger creeping back into his tone.   
  
Magnus just scoffed. "Of course not. I'll be the first to admit that the idea of having children scares me half to death, but that is not even close to a reason why this isn't a good idea. I was just trying to say that you're now a single parent. That's a whole new can of worms to crack open and it's something that you need to adjust to first. That's going to take up nearly all of your free time until you can learn to find a good balance. That takes time," he explained.   
  
Suprisingly, Alec couldn't help but crack a smile. Instantly lightening the mood. "For someone who has never had any kids, you seem to know quite a bit about kids," he pointed out.   
  
A matching smile creeped onto Magnus' face as well. The atomosphere didn't feel nearly as intense anymore. Which was quite a relief. Alec couldn't stand feeling so much tension between them. And not the good kind.   
  
"I never said I haven't dated single parents before," Magnus replied.  
  
Alec supposed that was a good point. His muscles were finally able to relax as the conversation steadily eased into something lighter. "I'm sorry about pouncing on you earlier. I guess I was just too focused on what Lydia said to me after she told me she wanted a divorce."  
  
Magnus raised an eyebrow, ushering the younger man to continue. So he did. "She said that she wanted to find real love again. And she suggested that I try to do the same," he finished.   
  
Understanding filled the warlock's eyes. His faux brown ones. Alec found himself longing to see his natural eyes. The yellow cat-shaped ones that he masked with a glamour. Alec was determined to someday make Magnus feel at ease enough with him to ditch the glamour. But that would take a whole lot of time and patience. But he was willing to do whatever it took to make this dream a reality. No matter the cost. Magnus deserved that and much more.   
  
"Lydia was right. But I don't think she meant that it was something to pursue right away. You must close old wounds before you can bare yourself to potential new ones," said Magnus.   
  
Alec nodded. "Well-spoken."  
  
They sat in silence for a few moments. Alec was trying to build the courage within himself to ask Magnus what he wished to. He knew they wouldn't be able to engage in any sort of romantic relationship for a long while, but he still longed for something between them. Whether it be friendship or something more. He wanted this beautiful man in his life no matter the way, shape, or form.   
  
He finally decided to just spit it out and damn the consequences.   
  
"Would you like to go get a coffee with me?"   
  
A frown formed on the other man's face. He seemed to take his request the wrong way. "Alec-" he began.  
  
But Alec quickly beat him to the punch. "Not like that. Just to catch up. Strictly," he assured.   
  
That breathtaking smile crept back onto Magnus' face and it melted Alec right to the core. "I would love-"   
  
They were rudely interuptted by the door to his office crashing open. Alec whirled around, ready to inform whoever it was where exactly they could shove it, when his eyes landed on his son, shrieking and kicking in his parabatai's struggling arms. His gaze instantly softened at the sight of his youngest child. And, unfortunately, his wildest one. His dirty blonde locks were a matt of knots atop his head, and his big blue eyes were filled to the brim with unshed tears.   
  
Rylan was practically shoved into his arms as Jace fell back into the wall next to the doorway with an exasperated grunt.  
  
"Your son is a toddler from hell. We were playing out in the garden and all of a sudden he just start screaming bloody murder. I've tried _everything_! He just won't stop crying," Jace sighed, running a hand through his unusually messy hair.   
  
Alec frowned. "Where exactly were you playing at?"   
  
Jace paused for a moment, attempting to remember. This went on slightly longer than Alec's patience allowed, but his brother finally answered his question. "Over by the rose bushes."  
  
It took all he had to contain his bubbling anger. For the sake of keeping Rylan as calm as possible, he kept himself from shouting at his parabatai. Instead, he hissed as lowly as he could.   
  
"You _idiot_! Did you not even stop to think for a _second_? Rose bushes are filled with thorns!" Alec snapped.   
  
He inspected his son's arms and legs and sure enough there was a small thorn stuck inside his tiny palm. Alec carried him over to his desk and sat him ontop of the oldened wood, rifling through his desk drawers for his emergency kit. It took him longer than he liked, but he finally found it and dug through its contents for the necessary equipment.   
  
The worst part was using the tweezers to pull the thorn from Rylan's skin. It broke his heart to hear his baby scream like that. But it had to be done. Thanks to his moron of a brother. The alcohol wipe was bad, but not quite to the same extent. As soon as his son was properly bandaged he pulled him into his arms and rubbed his back in efforts to soothe him. All while giving Jace the deadliest glare he could muster.   
  
"You moron. I fear for the day you get Clary pregnant," Alec groaned.   
  
Jace looked like he was begining to realize the extent of the idiocy in his actions. Before he could comment, Alec ushered him out of the room. His brother had pushed his buttons far too much for today. Besides, he had other business to attend to.   
  
He turned his attention back to Magnus, who was staring at the child in his arms with a sympathetic gaze in his irises.   
  
"It seems like I have Rylan for the morning now. Can we take a rain check on that coffee?" Alec asked softly, as not to disturb his little boy as his cries began to die down.  
  
Magnus shot him an understanding smile. "Of course, Alec. Take care of your son. I have an appointment I must make soon anyway. How does tomorrow morning sound?" The warlock suggested.   
  
"Perfect."  
  
And with that confirmation, Magnus let himself out of the office. And if Alec stared at his goregous ass as he walked away, well, sue him. 


	5. Stolen

Magnus was so mad at himself.

He was lying sprawled across the sofa in his living room, moping and wasting his time flipping through old Vogue magazines. Anything to distract himself from those beautiful blue eyes he’d see every time he closed his own. So sleep was definitely not an option. And nothing was interesting enough on the tv to enrapture his full attention.

He had to admit (but only to himself... _strictly_ , to himself), that Alexander had a way of opening his heart up despite his best efforts to keep it on lock down. Magnus just wanted to be friends with the shadowhunter, but didn’t know if he’d be able to handle it. He was so enraptured with the other man that not making a move on him was simply torturous. But he couldn’t. In doing so would endanger his heart yet again. And Alexander could be unpredictable at times.

But that also meant that Alec always had a funny way of surprising him. Like that kiss and the request to take him out for a coffee sometime. That was so totally out of the blue and so like Alexander it make his chest constrict tightly. A coffee date, in which he still had no clue if he would attend or not. It had seemed wonderful at the time, but spending time with Alexander, just the two of them, seemed dangerous the more he thought about it. So for the past couple of weeks he’d avoided Alec’s calls and texts. Which had eventually died down in frequency from two a day to one every few days. It seemed the hunter was starting to get the hint that he wasn’t ready to answer.

To simply put it, Magnus wasn’t ready to let himself fall again. He wasn’t quite sure if he ever would be, but he still hoped for things that were so far off in the distance he questioned if they were even possible. Letting himself fall in love with Alexander, the shy nephilim man falling in love with him right back, and spending the next sixty or so years in domestic bliss.

Yeah, right.

The warlock flung himself off of his cozy pile of misery. He had to get out of here and stop his mind from racing so much. This couldn’t be healthy. He hadn’t visited Pandemonium in a long while. Might as well swing by and deal with any transgressions that may have occurred in his absence. It wasn’t exactly his idea of fun but it was something other than this and that was all he needed.

So he dug through his wardrobe and put together a suitable clubbing outfit. Only after he was meticulously put together did he head out of the loft and down the flight of steps leading out of his building. It was always nice to do things the mundane way sometimes. Instead of portaling to the club, a quiet walk out amongst the New York nightlife sounded most appealing. His city was beautiful, albeit smelly and annoying at times, still beautiful. Especially after the sun goes down.

He was only a few more blocks away from his club when he heard the shrieking of a pack of children on the other side of the street. It seemed a bit too late for kids to be roaming around here, but maybe their parents were nearby.

Magnus observed the children quietly. They were, in fact, alone. But not only that, these were a pack of shadowhunter children. Far too young to be runed, but he could sense the angelic energy radiating off of them in waves. There were six of them; four boys and two girls. But what caught his eye wasn’t the pack of children themselves, but a familiar intricate braid that one of the girls were sporting. It was eerily similar to his handiwork. Isabelle must have practiced and perfected his technique. It was way too dark to see the little girl’s face, but that’s when he knew.

This was Alexander’s daughter.

Elise trailed slightly behind the group with one of the boys. They were skipping across the sidewalks, trying to avoid stepping on the cracks in the pavement but failing every now and again. The boy that was with her seemed frustrated with his failures, but Elise just seemed all-around happy. Why on earth was she out here this late with all of these kids instead of at home, tucked in safe and sound in her bed? Alec didn’t seem like the kind of parent to let his kids just run off to wherever the hell they wished. Especially when they were too young to properly defend themselves. Elise had probably snuck out while everyone was asleep, along with the rest of the other little ones.

Magnus pulled up Alexander’s number on his phone and attempted to call him, but the line just rung and rung until inevitably hitting the hunter’s voicemail. He sighed. Looks like he was going to be playing babysitter tonight. For as long as it took for Alec to pick up his damn phone. He crossed the street and trailed behind the pack close enough to keep them all in eyesight, but far away enough to avoid being detected. If the children knew he was following they could become frightened and scatter in all different directions, and Magnus wouldn’t be able to capture all six of them at once. And then they would be all alone, which was three times as dangerous as what they were currently up to was.

Magnus had only glanced down for a few seconds, long enough try and reach Alexander on his cell again, but it was more than enough time. Because when he looked back up, the children were farther up ahead than he was comfortable with. Only something was off. He observed closely once he caught up to them, and stopped dead in his tracks.

There were only five of them left now. And not one of them had a braid.

‘ _Dammit_!’

Magnus sent off a small blue ball off light and attached it to one of the boys’ belts. That way he could track them back down once he retrieved the missing child. He’d done so just in time, because they rounded the corner of the street up ahead and were gone in a flash.

The warlock turned back around and headed the opposite way, peering into nearby alleyways and abandoned buildings. But it took him a good minute to get a location. He saw the little girl at the end of an alley he’d passed up awhile back. She was too far to see very clearly from his position but she was bent down beside one of the dumpsters, outstretching her small hand towards something he couldn’t see.

As he got closer, he could hear the soft cries of an animal. As well as Elise’s murmured whispers that echoed along the empty walls.

“Shhh! It’s okay, little guy. I’ll take you home with me and my aunty can help you!” She insisted as she tried in vain to get the injured cat in front of her to approach.

Magnus could see the scene a lot better now. He was still too far away to reach her, but he knew she was safe and that was what really mattered.

But then she wasn’t.

At the end of the alley nearest to the young nephilim was a shadow whirling around the corner and reaching out towards Elise, whom was still oblivious to the intruder as her full attention was focused solely on the animal by the dumpster. If only she was a little older. She would be more aware of her surroundings and more able to flee before trouble hit. But she wasn’t.

It all happened so fast. Magnus had little to no time to react. The figure was reaching down towards her and its fingers nearly met the back of her neck. Would’ve, if it wasn’t for him. He sent a blast of power towards the dark figure, causing a loud, male cry to ring through the alley as it was knocked to the ground. Elise whipped her head up and sprung back away from the intruder, echoing a matching shriek to his screams. She leapt over the stranger and bolted.

“Elise!” He called out in vain. But it was too late. She’d rounded the corner and was already gone.

The figure sprung right back up and rebounded faster than any mundane could. Which was even more worrisome. Magnus dove behind the fire escape as a matching bolt of magic was shot in his direction. It smacked against a garbage can and the hunk of metal burst into flames.

Then the figure was gone again, and Magnus’ blood ran cold. That faceless warlock was going after Elise, and he had no idea which way they were headed. Magnus raced to the end of the alleyway and his heart sunk as he frantically looked around for the young girl and the faceless warlock only for them to be nowhere in sight. He began to panic, head whipping around and trying to figure out a way to track them down. Then he saw it.

A small charm bracelet was hidden slightly beneath the dumpster. Its chain was snapped, and most of the various rune charms were scattered across the ground. But it was something. He picked it up and held it tightly in his fist, focusing on nothing but Elise and the innocent, childish energy she projected. He got a partial, because before he could finish his phone began to shriek out Alec’s ringtone and it effectively threw him off course from the task at hand. The warlock growled and opened a portal. He didn’t have time to waste with a second tracking attempt. He got a general location and it would have to do for now because the energy from the bracelet was getting increasingly frantic and that meant that the warlock was probably right on her tail by now.

The portal spit him out to a narrow neighborhood street about a block away from the alley, and right as he landed he saw Elise’s tiny shadow disappearing behind one of the homes with the faceless warlock hot on her heels. Magnus ran after them as fast as his legs could take him, and it led him to a beautiful backyard to one of the resident’s homes. There was an oversized underground pool, a metallic swing set, and a wooden porch with a vineyard climbing up from one of the sides to the rooftop.

That’s where Elise was. She’d climbed only a couple of feet up the vines before the warlock wrapped its dark green magic around her body and jerked her off of the vineyard and into its arms. Elise screamed as the mysterious figure began to open up a portal.

“Daddy!” She shrieked as she kicked and flailed around in the warlock’s unforgiving grip.

“Stop!” Magnus cried, sending a bolt of energy out and smashing it against the portal, effectively closing it before the figure had the chance to take the girl.

The figure growled out its frustration and engaged in a fierce battle of supernatural power against Magnus.

“Leave it alone, Bane! This is for the greater good of our kind!” The faceless warlock screamed. So, indeed, it was a man.

Magnus did a spin dive into the damp grass to avoid the wave of energy that the man shot at him next. “What greater good could there possibly be in kidnapping an innocent child?” He snapped back.

“You will understand soon enough, everyone will!”

And before Magnus had the chance to recoil and regain his bearings, the portal was reopened.

“Magnus!” Elise cried out as she was drug through with the other warlock.

Magnus had attempted to close the portal before he could try to drag her through again this time, but he was a split second too late and his attack bypassed the portal as it shrunk away into non-existence and slammed into a nearby tree.

No...

What in Lilith’s name was he gonna tell Alec?

As if his phone had read his mind, Alexander’s ringtone broke through the agonizing silence yet again. Magnus took a deep breath to steady his nerves before sliding his cell out of his pocket and hitting ‘accept’ for the first time in weeks.

“Magnus!” Alec breathed, a smile evident in his voice. “I’m sorry I missed your call earlier but I was asleep and I’d-“

“She’s gone,” Magnus blurted out, unable to listen to the joy in the hunter’s voice any longer. Because soon enough there wouldn’t be even a trace of it left.

Alexander was silent for a moment, trying to catch up. “What?”

Magnus almost choked on a sob. Alec was going to be so heartbroken and he was going to have to be the one to voice the words that were going to break his spirit and shatter his entire world.

“Elise has been abducted, Alexander,” he whispered, scared to ruin the peaceful quietness of the night while it still lasted.

The warlock winced as he heard Alec scream something unintelligible and the clatter of his cell phone hitting the hardwood floors of his bedroom. All Magnus could do was silently let the tears fall as he heard the sound of frantic footsteps getting quieter and quieter in the distance.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And now the main plot has begun *mic drop*


	6. Acts of Terror

Isabelle was fast asleep in her bed in the institute, resting peacefully on Simon’s chest. Key word: was. She was rudely startled awake by the institute’s alarm blaring all throughout the halls. Something was happening. Simon launched out of bed so quick that she was thrown back into the pillows with a loud ‘thump’ as her head hit the headboard.

“Simon!”

The other shadowhunter groaned. “I’m sorry, Iz.”

She sighed and pulled her jeans from the night before back onto her hips, slipped into her abandoned heels in the corner, and slid out the bedroom door and into the hallway. There were several confused shadowhunters all in various states of dress making their way quickly to the steps and the elevators. Isabelle decided on the steps. The elevators were gonna be too crowded to get in one for a good ten minutes. She needed to figure out what was going on.

The hunter shoved open the door that held the staircase and quickly made her way down to the ground floor. The alarm only got louder the closer she got. It was almost bad enough for her to cover her ears. But then she looked up and saw one of the sirens flashing up above, explaining why it was so much louder in here than out in the open. It was a very closed-in space.

Isabelle emerged from the stairs and jogged down the next winding hallway and into the ops center. It was total chaos. Shadowhunters were running all over the place in a frenzy. Most of them to the monitors, pulling up the profiles of several different known warlocks in the city and beyond. The ones that resided in the institute were just as bewildered as she as they took in the scene that was unfolding before their eyes.

Isabelle was heading to the entrance of the building when the doors slammed open and a pack of well-known leaders of different institutes across the globe burst through. It was a very large group, but Isabelle only recognized six or so of them due to prior business engaged. The heads of the Moscow, Vienna, Miami, Tokyo, Bogotá, and Phoenix institutes were amongst the crowd. Each and everyone of them looked stressed out of their minds. If Isabelle wasn’t mistaken she could’ve sworn she saw tear tracks on some of their faces. But everything was too crazy right now to tell.

Then in came her brother. He shoved past everyone in his way with Magnus following closely behind, trying to keep up with Alec as best he could. The warlock was holding Rylan in his arms and was attempting to soothe the poor baby as he shrieked, distressed by the hectic scene around them. Alec looked like an absolute train wreck. His eyes were blown wide and puffy from tears, his hair far more disheveled than usual, and he hadn’t even bothered to change out of his pajamas. He was barking orders at milling shadowhunters as he went by, nothing but pain and desperation in his voice.

What the hell was going on?

Whatever it was, it was something big. For so many world leaders to be here before dawn and look this off-put was extremely alarming. Not to mention her big brother, who was usually so perfectly put together while in a professional setting, running around and screaming like a banshee at everybody in earshot. This had to be bad. _Really_ bad. Isabelle searched the area around them for Elise, but she was nowhere to be found. Even more terrifying. Alec had never let either of his children out of sight when there was a state of panic before in the past.

Isabelle ran up to him and pushed her hands against his chest, effectively halting him in his tracks.

“Alec! What’s happening?”

He shook his head and shoved right past her, ignoring her question entirely in his duress. He waited impatiently for the alarm to go off before hopping onto one of the desks in the middle of the ops center and effectively gaining the attention of everyone in the room. Nearly every shadowhunter in New York had to be here. It was so crowded at this point that Isabelle was surprised there was even any room to breathe at all.

Alec began to speak, but Isabelle didn’t hear a word of it as she stared at the front doors in shock. There was her father; the inquisitior. For him to be here too meant that there was something worldwide happening right now in the shadow world. Not just in New York. Isabelle mulled over the possibility of him being here to support Alec, but dismissed that thought almost immediately. He may love his children, but he was nearly always too busy to come visit. It angered Isabelle to no end but there was a time and place for that and this wasn’t it.

She tuned back in whenever she heard a familiar name ring out across the room.

“-Elise, ran off with her friends in the middle of the night. She was kidnapped this morning at approximately 1:37am from a residential neighborhood down the street from the club ‘Pandemonium’. Her captor is a warlock, but we only have a very basic description. This warlock is a light-haired male, standing at 5’9 and around 170 pounds. My daughter is not the only victim here. In the past few hours, nearly two dozen other children, all belonging to other institute leaders worldwide, have been abducted as well. No descriptions of their abductors can be provided at this time. Thank you.”

Isabelle’s knees went weak and she nearly hit the floor. She would have, if it weren’t for Simon’s arms wrapping around her from behind. She held onto him tightly, crying into his shoulder as he stroked her hair gently. Elise, her sweet, innocent, beautiful niece, was missing and in the hands of Angel knows who. The shadowhunter couldn’t help but think about how terrified she must be, how much she missed her family, how much she just wanted to go home, and it only made her sob even harder.

She tried her absolute best to compose herself when her father took the floor. She needed to hear what he would say. If they had any shot at recovering Elise they needed to be on high alert and listen to all instructions given to them.

“This situation is considered to be an act of terrorism against The Clave. My granddaughter is being held somewhere in London by downworlders, along with several other children that have gone missing in the past six hours. We have exhausted all of our resources, but are unable to pinpoint a more precise location. The parents of these other children will be coming up one at a time to provide a proper description of their missing child. Listen carefully and take notes. Be on high alert. Half of you will be sent to London to search, while the other will be looking around the crime scenes to find any possibly clues left behind that could lead to their whereabouts.”

Robert stepped down from the center and gestured for the head of the Vienna Institute to step forward. Isabelle wanted to listen to the other children’s descriptions, she really did, but the only thing she could focus on was Elise. So many images flooded Isabelle’s brain at that moment. As if she was trying to implant them deep enough in her mind so that she would never forget a single detail. Just in case something happened...

 _No_. Isabelle refused to believe this to be a possibility. But she couldn’t stop the memories from flashing through.

The day her niece was born was one of the best moments of her life. Alec had been an anxiety-induced gay disaster the entire night. But when Elise was finally born in the wee hours of the morning, she’d never seen her brother look so happy. Only when the new parents had passed out from sheer exhaustion was Isabelle finally able to get her hands on her niece. Holding her for the first time caused her heart to explode.

She was the most beautiful baby she had ever seen. And Isabelle had seen her own baby pictures before so she knew damn well what she was talking about. Elise hardly cried, only took in everything going on around her with excitement dancing around in her precious cerulean blue eyes even way back then. Ever since Elise had been Isabelle’s best friend. Any chance Izzy had she would steal her niece away for an ice cream date or a sleep over or even something as simple as a walk through the park. She brought a light to the hunter’s life that she’d never had before. Elise always had that kind of effect on people.

Now she was gone. And everything inside Isabelle was screaming at her to snap her fingers and make her come back. Logically, she knew she couldn’t, but it still didn’t stop that feeling from shaking her senseless.

Whoever took her niece would not be allowed to live another hour once they were found. Accords be damned. This meant war.

“How could you let this happen?!” Isabelle heard someone scream from somewhere in the crowd.

She didn’t have to wonder who the voice belonged to for very long. A very distraught and very furious Lydia Branwell was barreling their way with a look that could kill directed at no one else but her brother. She saw Alec flinch and more tears threatening to fall down his cheeks. Her brother was absolutely heartbroken. And it was just as much Isabelle’s job to protect him from harm as it was his to do the same for her.

Isabelle slid right in front of Alec and grabbed the fist that had been flying at his face. Lydia yanked her hand back as if Isabelle had a touch of blazing lava. Her eyes hardened and the blonde woman grit her teeth.

“Isabelle. Move.” She ordered.

The Lightwood woman shook her head. “I can’t do that, Lydia.”

Lydia attempted to go around her, but Isabelle went the same way. The other shadowhunter grew more and more infuriated as she kept getting blocked everywhere she turned. Isabelle held her head high and remained unmovable against her rage. Alec was too vulnerable right now to deal with anymore shit. Especially this.

“Isabelle, I need to speak with Alec right fucking now!” She growled.

Izzy crossed her arms over her own chest in defiance. “No. You’re not going to speak with him you’re going to yell at him. He has enough on his plate right now without you adding more to it.”

Lydia’s hard exterior immediately broke down and what was hidden underneath emerged from the depths of her heart. It seemed like it took everything Lydia had to even stand upright, her shoulders slumped down with the weight that she’d been carrying around. Her eyes welled up with unshed tears.

“How do you think I’m feeling right now? I’m her _mother_! My baby is gone and she was taken away under _his_ watch!” She cried.

Isabelle heard her brother choke on a sob from behind her. She knew those words were exactly what Alec had echoing around his mind right now. She knew he blamed himself for Elise’s abduction, but Lydia confirming his thoughts only broke him that much more. He was breaking and there wasn’t anything Isabelle could do but deflect the oncoming blows that kept getting thrown at him.

“This is not Alec’s fault and you know it, Lydia. Elise ran off with her friends while he was asleep. This could’ve happened under _anybody’s_ watch. Even yours,” she bit back.

She really did want to be sympathetic to Lydia’s feelings. They had been good friends for a very long time. But when it came to her family she just couldn’t do it. Any harshness directed at those she loved most was considered to be a threat in her eyes. And at that point Isabelle was unable to see any logic or reason. Nobody hurt her family. It didn’t matter what the situation was.

Lydia completely shattered at that point. She pushed past Isabelle and collapsed into Alec’s arms. He held her as tight as he could to prevent her from hitting the floor. She sobbed into his T-shirt until she had no more tears left inside her trembling body. Isabelle couldn’t imagine what she was going through right now. She’d carried Elise around inside of her for nearly a year and gave her life, and now that life was under an extreme threat that she was powerless to control.

Isabelle felt a gentle hand touch her shoulder. She initially assumed it was Simon again, but was happy to see that it was Magnus, with Rylan in his arms. Her nephew was just what she needed right now. Isabelle had to protect this precious boy with everything she had. She couldn’t lose them both. She would lose whatever sanity she still had left.

“Could you take him for me, dear? I need to go back to that neighborhood and the alleyway. See if I can’t find out anything more from the traces of that bastard’s magic,” he spoke softly, as if he was worried he would startle her.

Isabelle took her nephew into her arms gratefully with a nod. Magnus gave her a soft kiss to her cheek and with a very familiar storm in his eyes, he disappeared into the crowd. It was a look that was nearly identical to her brother’s. And she didn’t understand why.

Guilt.

The shadowhunter was too broken down to do anything about it though, so she didn’t. Instead, she stood there amidst the chaos around her and held Rylan to her chest and breathed in the smell of his soft locks of hair. He was what gave her a semblance of comfort in this horrific nightmare she was trapped inside.


	7. The Vigilantes of the Downworld

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Just a forewarning: this chapter contains acts of violence against a child. If this is something you are triggered by, turn back now. You cannot say I haven’t warned you.

Beyond scared. That was the only thing Elise could feel right now.

She felt like she was struggling to breathe, even though there wasn’t anything obstructing her lungs. It felt like those things she kept having whenever her daddy first moved her and Rylan to New York. She couldn’t really remember what her daddy had called them at the time but she just knew that this one was different. This time she didn’t have anyone to help calm her down.

Several of the other kids here were staring at her, quiet as a mouse for fear of the adults coming back downstairs and screaming at them for being too loud again. Elise was among the youngest of the group. Most of the other children were between seven and twelve years old. The oldest was Willow and everyone, including Elise, looked to her for guidance. But the fourteen year old stayed mostly silent. She even had a couple of runes too! But without a stele she couldn’t use them to fight off the downworlders upstairs.

Everyone in the room flinched as the door to the cellar slammed open again. One of the vampire ladies had a sleeping boy in her arms and was carrying him down the steps. Every time a new kid was brought inside Elise had considered just making a run for it. But some of the adults were probably guarding the area outside. It was too risky.

Elise had been trying her very best to avoid direct eye contact with the adults when they came downstairs, it was something her daddy taught her to do when she couldn’t fight whenever there were bad guys around. If she avoided bringing attention to herself, she would probably be left alone. But this time she couldn’t resist the pull. Because she felt like the vampire lady was staring right at her. When she looked up, sure enough, the woman was studying her curiously.

“What’s your name, little girl?” The vampire lady asked, approaching her as she did so.

Elise’s fear grew even stronger. This woman was very pretty, but her eyes weren’t at all. They looked very mean. The nephilim girl knew she couldn’t play oblivious anymore. If she didn’t answer her questions the woman might try to hurt her. And Elise knew she needed to do her very best to be safe until her mommy and daddy and aunty came to save her. She just hoped it would be sooner rather than later.

“Elise Lightwood,” she whispered, gluing her eyes to her snow boots before answering.

The little girl snapped her head back up whenever she heard the vampire lady start to giggle. She didn’t understand what was so funny about what she said. Elise was a pretty normal name. So she thought, anyways.

“Wow. This is just so...fitting,” the woman commented dryly.

Elise couldn’t catch her breath anymore when the vampire got close enough to smell her breath. It was really nasty. It smelled like something oddly metallic. But very familiar at the same time. She couldn’t quite put her finger on it, but she knew that smell from somewhere. All she could remember right now though was that it wasn’t a good smell.

The vampire extended her hand towards the girl, expecting her to take it. Elise hesitated, but complied to her wishes in the end. Whatever it took to make this woman happy is what she would do. She had to be smart about this and stay strong for her family. Surviving was the only goal here.

The lady’s hand was really cold when she grasped her own and shook it. Elise shivered.

“My name’s Camille. I’m an old...friend, of your daddy’s friend, Magnus Bane,” she grinned chaotically.

Oh! Magnus! The sparkly warlock man that had braided her hair a few weeks ago. Relief flooded Elise’s body as she thought back to when that mean warlock took her away. Magnus had tried to help her. If this lady was Magnus’ friend then she had to be nice, right? Magnus was nice. So it only made sense that his friends were nice too. Elise felt bad for being so quick to judge the vampire lady.

“It’s nice to meet you, Miss Camille. Is Magnus here?” She asked.

Something passed over the vampire’s eyes that Elise didn’t really understand. But she brushed it off. Maybe Elise was just reading too much into everything. Aunt Clary had taught her that it was important to be critical and perceptive, but not overly-so. That could land her into a lot of trouble and misunderstandings someday. Camille brushed the back of her ice-cold knuckles across her neck, causing yet another shiver to race through her.

“No, he’s too busy right now. But he might come later. Do you wanna play a game?” Camille asked.

Elise got excited. It was rare that an adult wanted to play a game with her. Most of the time they were too busy hunting demons or talking about things she didn’t really understand yet. The nephilim girl was starting to like this lady a lot. She seemed like the only nice downworlder in this place. Elise nodded her head, practically bouncing up and down from her spot on the concrete floor.

This made Camille very happy, because she smiled sweetly and pet Elise’s hair. It felt nice. She really liked it when people played with her hair. Aunty Izzy did it all the time and it thrilled her to no end. She couldn’t wait till she could see her aunty again. She really missed her.

“Okay. We’re gonna play a game called hide and seek. You’ve heard of it, right?” Camille asked.

Elise hummed. She played that game all the time with her new friends back in New York. She was one of the best hiders out of all of the other children. It usually took a really long time for anyone to find her. Hide and seek was one of her favorite games. Her daddy always said it was because she was very competitive, like him, and enjoyed games she was really good at over ones that she wasn’t. It made a lot of sense when he explained it.

“Good. I want you to count to ten, and then open your eyes again,” the vampire ordered.

Elise turned around and put her face in the corner behind her. She began to count like Camille had asked her to.

“1...2...3...4...”

The little girl was hit with a sudden whiff of that metallic taste again. This time it was a lot stronger than before. It almost caused her to choke on the next number, but she pushed on. Like the tough little shadowhunter she knew was.

“5...6...7...”

Elise tried to slow down her counting, because Camille wasn’t really moving. Maybe she needed some more time? She contemplated starting over once she reached ten and giving the vampire another chance to find a good spot to hide. But she never got the opportunity.

“8...9...”

The ‘10’ was never spoken. Instead, Elise gasped. Camille had grabbed her by the hair and yanked her head to the side, exposing her neck. Elise tried to get away, but the woman was way too strong for her to fend off. So she only screamed as she felt the vampire’s breath against her skin and the sharp teeth in her mouth beginning to sink into the little girl’s throat.

~~~

Alec stood at the head of the table inside one of the meeting rooms, pacing back and forth restlessly as he waited for the rest of the missing downworlders to show. It had been far too long without a lead on his daughter’s whereabouts. Four days. Four long, excruciating days of his absolute worst possible nightmare. Everything felt so wrong right now.

Every night after he got Rylan down for bed he would automatically go into Elise’s room to tuck her in and kiss her goodnight. It felt like a punch in the gut every time he saw her unused bed. Every morning he would put together her school bag to ready her for her tutor and would stop short whenever he turned around to hand his daughter the bag and the only occupant at the kitchen table was his son. Elise’s usual seat remained pushed in. Every. Single. Goddamn. Day.

So he’d called an emergency meeting with the downworlder committee. Perhaps they had heard whispers in passing about the children and just hadn’t come forward yet. It sounded pretty far-fetched, even to him. But Alec was growing more and more desperate with each passing hour. He just need something. _Anything_.

He felt a heavily-ringed hand on his shoulder and the tension in his shoulders eased ever so slightly.

“It’s going to be alright, Alexander. We’ll find her,” Magnus reassured him.

But it didn’t help calm his nerves at all. Because Magnus’ voice didn’t sound very confident. It was like he was trying to convince both himself and Alec that everything would be okay. The shadowhunter was very grateful for Magnus’ efforts, despite the minimal evidence he’d turned up in his search of Elise’s scene of abduction. At least he had people in his corner. That was what mattered most to the hunter.

Meliorn and Raphael eventually arrived and Alec was glad to finally be able to get this show on the road.

Before he had the chance to speak, Raphael beat him to the punch.

“I have some information for you. About the children,” he said.

Alec raised an eyebrow. “And when exactly was this information obtained?” He asked, trying his hardest to remain calm. Why hadn’t he come forward sooner?

Raphael’s lips downturned in an irritated frown. “I hadn’t been able to piece everything together until a few hours ago at the Dumort,” he replied.

Alec nodded. That settled his nerves. Raphael could never meet with him unless it was dark, so it made a lot more sense for him to wait those few hours. But Alec was beginning to wonder if the vampire had ever heard of a ‘cell phone’ before. He’d have to get around to asking. To avoid any future problems involving communication.

But Raphael only remained silent. The shadowhunter’s patience was starting to plummet lightning-fast.

“I will tell you...on one condition.”

Alec couldn’t control his anger anymore. This was getting ridiculous. They could already be investigating this lead instead of sitting here playing bullshit games. Every single second counted to him. He already didn’t like Raphael anyways. After what transpired between him and his sister, he was lucky that he wasn’t six feet under ground...again. This time the clan leader was pushing his generosity.

“You _will_ tell me or I’ll break your fucking-“

“Alexander!” Magnus snapped, cutting his threat off short.

The hunter bit his tongue and stared down the other man. Magnus remained unfazed by his bitch face though, arms crossed over his chest and hip cocked at his side. The two men spent the next few moments simply glaring at one another, challenging the other to break first. Alec ended up being the one to give in. He sighed heavily and spun back around on the heels of his boots to face the stupid vampire.

“What I _meant_ to say was, ‘what are your terms, Raphael’?” He asked dryly with a dramatic roll of his eyes. Was it childish? Probably. Did Alec give a flying fuck? Nope. Not even one.

Raphael pursed his lips. He seemed very hesitant to come forward. It had to be something that could cause him problems. “These are only rumors my clan has heard in passing. None of my people are involved with these rogue downworlders. They will not be interrogated nor considered to be suspects in this matter. You can trust that I ran a thorough investigation into them myself.”

Alec agreed. If it would get this vampire to tell him this piece of information sooner then the hunter would probably do just about anything he wanted.

“This isn’t just a group of pissed off warlocks. There are several different vampires, werewolves, and fay involved in this too. One name in particular that was mentioned was Camille Belcourt,” Raphael revealed.

Magnus’ made a small, unintelligible noise from where he stood behind him. He turned around to see the warlock’s fists trembling tightly at his sides. A few blue sparks were twitching out from his fingertips. Alec was about to make an attempt to calm him down but he never got the chance. Magnus growled and stormed out of the conference room.

“I’ll be back,” he barked before slamming the door.

Then he was gone.

Alec was about to reply to Raphael’s statement but the door flew back open. Was it just not possible for the shadowhunter to conduct a proper meeting today without countless interruptions? His eyes softened when he saw that it was Lydia at the door, a piece of paper clasped in her palm. She walked over to Alec and thrust it towards him.

“I just found this on your desk.”

Alec read the unopened fire message and shut his eyes tightly once he finished. In part, he was relieved. His daughter had a lot better chances of survival now because of this. But that also meant that he had to pull off something damn near impossible to meet these demands. If he didn’t succeed, he probably wouldn’t ever see her alive again.

_The Clave has one week and one week only to meet the following demands in numerical order:_

_1\. Grant each and every one of the fractions of the downworld a professional position within all cabinets of The Clave. They will not be ignored nor silenced whenever there are decisions to be made regarding their respected people._

_  
2\. Pardon all members of this operation of any criminal wrongdoings once these matters are resolved._

_  
3\. Call an emergency meeting to discuss the adjustments of The Accords. Every leader of the downworld will be present and will have an equal say in what will be added or removed from these documents._

_We will be sending a member of our operation with an official, binding contract to be strictly signed by The Inquisitor, one Robert Lightwood. We will release one child per day until The Accords have been reconstructed. To display our gratitude for his gracious cooperation, Inquisitor Lightwood’s granddaughter will be the first child to be released once the contract is officiated. We will no longer stand in silence and allow the Shadowhunters to oppress our people. Drastic times call for drastic measures. We have tried reason and acts of peace for too long only for them to be ignored and met with laughter. This ends now. If all of these terms are not met within the time allotted we will murder every single child we’ve taken and their bodies will be left on the doorsteps of their institutes._


End file.
